Friday, 12 October 2012

The Ten Biggest “Data” Questions Travel Organisations Are Dealing With Right Now

I've spent the last six months talking to business travel
executives from across the spectrum- marketing, pricing, performance strategy,
analytics, IT, CRM and more. Despite the breadth of job roles, they all have
one thing in common. Every single one of the professionals I spoke to is
dealing with copious amounts of internal DATA. Data management and analytics
tracking is a growing part of every travel business- from loyalty to marketing,
from pricing to CRM, from performance strategy to business intelligence and
forecasting. In celebration of the rise and rise of data into our working
lives, I have clustered together the ten biggest issues reported from major
airlines, hotels, car hire firms, OTAs, destinations and tour operators working
in this space:

It’s
Mine, Hands Off: Data sharing. Oh the woes. Who owns the right to the data
within your organisation? This has been an issue since the cows left and never
came home. Should everyone have access to pricing, loyalty and CRM data? Who is
managing this and ensuring data is preserved and used correctly?

System of
A Down: System consolidation. We've been discussing this in revenue
management and pricing for years. What happens when you try to integrate CRM
with pricing, and is the technology even really there yet? Similarly, what
happens in a coalition or partnership situation like for example with United
and Continental last year?

Big (very,
very, terrifying, huge, scary, why is everyone shouting about it) Data: Big
data is splashed all over the news in every sector of business. Why so? Because
in the last two years, the ability to capture specific types of data has moved
along leaps and bounds. What’s the result? A huge tidal wave of data that only
a fair few know how to fully use.

The Tech
Check:With a huge surge in data and analytics
technologies now on the market, who can you trust and where should you put your
dollars?

If You
Plan It, They Will Come: This issue looks at identifying key contributors
and factors to help you plan better for the future. Where are the growth
markets, who are the key customers and how can you maximize profit?

One Size
Doesn’t Fit Them All: Our peers found that segmentation is back on the hit list.
With the breadth of our data capabilities widening, our segmentation and
targeting strategies should be more personalized than ever before, yet many
travel businesses still don’t segment marketing data as efficiently as they
could do.

The
Tick-Tock- Real Time Data: The casinos have been at it for years, so why
isn’t everyone else? The opportunities with real-time data are truly unreal- so
how do you action it and reap the benefits? What is the technology and cost
involved?

The
Social Commotion:Learning how to
effectively measure, react and respond to social customers. Plus, how do you
legally pull data from Facebook, Twitter and more and use that information
intelligently to make sales?

Ain’t No
Data Up In Here: One of the points which many of our interviewees brought
up is the internal struggle to ensure that data is at the core of the business.
Getting the board level to wholly back forecasting, planning and performance
strategy is an on-going problem, despite it being based on analytical fact.

Recruit
if they know the word Hadoop? Recruitment of data and analytics
professionals is one of the trickiest things we have to deal with in the travel
industry. Finding someone who is a “power user,” or a “data scientist,” (when
the interviewer is not) can be hard. What should you be looking for? Where can
you find them?

So to conclude, it is safe to say there are a number of
challenges and opportunities in the data and analytics space. One thing that is
for certain is that the role of data and analytics is present in all the stages
of travel: dreaming, booking, experiencing and reporting. I’m looking forward
to hosting a group of travel analytics professionals in NYC next January to
discuss some of these prevalent issues.
If you want more information, you can see www.eyefortravel.com/analytics.

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